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TFB - Daily News Summary - Jan. 16, 2017

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

THE FLORIDA BAR

Daily News Summary

An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department and distributed to the Board of Governors, section and committee chairs, voluntary bar presidents, members of the judiciary and others.

This week, FloridaBarNews.TV highlights The Florida Bar’s statewide efforts to education the legal community and the public about the Constitution Revision Commission. The Bar’s public education campaign has already made substantial progress since its kickoff on October 17. The Bar’s digital advertising as part of the campaign has made 18.7 million impressions as of early December, according to Board of Governors member Sandy Diamond, chair of the Bar’s Special Committee on the 2017 Constitution Revision.

The Constitution Revision Commission is considering a measure that could settle future disputes over the appointment of Florida Supreme Court justices. A proposal, sponsored by Commissioner Bill Schifino of Tampa and unanimously approved by the commission’s Ethics and Elections Committee on Friday [Jan. 12], would require members of the Supreme Court, the five state appellate courts and for circuit and county judges to retire on their birthdays once they reach the age of 75 rather than at the end of the term when they turn 70. The measure would not resolve whether Gov. Rick Scott or his successor, the winner of the 2018 governor’s race, will pick the replacements for three justices facing mandatory retirement.

The U.S. Supreme Court is leaving in place the suspension of Florida Judge Kim Shepard for using a 20-year-old newspaper endorsement on a flier during her campaign in 2014. The justices offered no comment in rejecting the appeal. Shepard was suspended without pay for 90 days by the Florida Supreme Court. She was punished for using an endorsement she received from the Orlando Sentinel during her 1994 campaign for re-election to the Florida House of Representatives when she successfully ran for election as an Osceola County judge in 2014.

The Florida Bar is taking its own approach to teach young adults how to be grownups: the #JustAdulting mobile app and website. The free mobile app, available for download in the Apple store and Google Play, explores the responsibilities and legal issues young adults could run into in a variety of topics including contracts, federal income tax, jury duty and voting. The Florida Bar is currently promoting the app at conferences and on social media, and encouraging teachers to use it as a tool in the classroom.

“Congratulations are in order to Jacksonville lawyer Allison M. Stocker for winning a major legal award. Stocker will receive The Florida Bar’s 2018 ‘Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Service Award’ during a ceremony later this month in the Supreme Court of Florida. . . . A graduate of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, Stocker has previously won recognition from various organizations for her work in both business and commercial litigation. Bravo!”

Jacqueline B. Kiviat has been named executive director of the Dade County Bar Association, the largest voluntary bar association in Florida. The selection followed a regional search and selection process by a committee led by past president Jeffrey Rynor. Previously, Kiviat served as executive director and COO of TerraLex, a worldwide network of independent law firms, for 16 years.

Duval County Judge Roberto Arias offered advice about becoming a candidate for a judgeship to members and guests of the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association on Thursday [Jan. 11] at the group’s monthly meeting. He serves on the 12-member Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. He reminded attendees that a style of campaigning with name-calling, negative advertising and other such tactics is against the law when seeking election to the bench.

For Jacksonville’s Kent family, the practice of law is a three-generation tradition. Frederick H. Kent III, president of Jacksonville’s Marks Gray law firm, has kept the family’s archives and oral history. Kent III became the third in the line of lawyers when he graduated in 1981 from Florida State University College of Law. Florida board-certified in real estate law, he also practices in the areas of commercial litigation, estate and probate matters. Kent, 61, said he plans to maintain the family tradition for the foreseeable future.

Students of Florida Coastal School of Law turned in a nearly perfect performance when 97 percent of them passed the November Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, one of the requirements for admission to The Florida Bar. The pass percentage was the highest among the 11 law schools in the state. Florida Coastal Dean Scott DeVito attributes the level of success on the most recent exam to a combination of raising the minimum Law School Admission Test score required to enroll at the school and improving the ethics and professionalism curriculum.

Some of Florida’s legislative leaders work at law firms that lobby the state Legislature, a dual role that The Florida Bar once viewed as an “inescapable” conflict of interest and effectively prohibited. The Bar’s ethics opinions prohibiting lawyers who serve in the Legislature from working at firms with lobbying practices was rescinded in 1999. State Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-Treasure Island, recently filed a bill under which “a member of the Legislature and his or her spouse, parent, child, or sibling may not have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with a lobbying firm.”

A deeply divided Florida House on Friday [Jan. 12] passed a proposal to ban “sanctuary cities’ in the state. The 71-35 vote by the Republican-dominated House came after two days of debate, with supporters pointing to a need to uphold the “rule of law” and Democratic critics contending the bill is unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling. Republicans, however, repeatedly returned to the idea that Florida should uphold the rule of law and drew a distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration. Even with passage by the House, it remains questionable whether the bill will get through the Senate, which has refused to go along with similar proposals in recent years.

“The Florida Supreme Court ruled in two 2016 cases on behalf of workers’ rights, causing the pendulum to swing back in the direction of employees and resulting in significant rate increases for employers. The Florida Legislature is again proposing reforms, but it needs a more prudent and equitable approach. . . . While court rulings were appropriate, in the first full year after the rulings attorney fees for claimants rose to nearly $186 million, according to the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims annual report. . . . The solution is not stacking the deck for one side or the other. If they want to talk about real reform in workers’ compensation, legislators will come up with a plan that protects both employees and employers, and lessens the need for lawyers.”